Vision, then brand

When the loft designs brand identities, the one thing we seek to do above all else, is communicate the truth. We don’t design one-off logos or websites to impress for 5 minutes, we design brand identities that tell a genuine story about the company in question. The problem arises, occasionally, when a company struggles with its overall vision. It is at this stage that we really have to earn our money, trying to grasp something noteworthy with which to communicate. We have always believed that the great brands are built from the inside out and not vice-versa. In business, it would be foolish to say that we aren’t all money motivated but its the way we make our money, that is more important. Some companies make profit their master, but the truly great companies are built on a vision and make money the consequence of their inevitable success. Ironically these are the companies that also tend to have truly strong brand identities. Everything they do is a natural consequence to this central vision and not a tactical decision to increase profit. What we have always said about genuinely great brands is that the vision must be absolutely consistent. Whereas most companies see branding as a communication channel – logo, website, literature, etc. Great brands enact their vision and values, naturally applying it in everything they do – including above all else the actual product/service as well as the way they treat their staff, their customers, their suppliers etc. As Innocent showed on Wednesday night, it can be applied in all manner of means. All instilling the vision into every element of the company.

On Wednesday night we saw evidence of a genuine super brand. Innocent, who create fruit smoothies, vegetable pots and yoghurts, are the epitome of an incredible brand. I had already learnt a fair bit about Innocent in the last couple of years, about their unique style, one such incident sticks in the mind. A few years ago, Innocent were on Watchdog as some of their fruit drinks were actually exploding in the shops storage . What should have been a bit of a PR disaster was turned on its head as Richard Reed, one of the co-owners, apologised on show but stated that unfortunately it’s a natural consequence of using real untreated fruit. Real fruit will occasionally ferment causing bottles to explode. What began as a short term problem worked to their long term benefit. Later, things such as calling your building ‘Fruit Towers’ and arranging lunch dates for your new employees to integrate them into the team on their first week only fuelled this impression that Innocent actually are quite a special company. We have been saying for some time that great companies can use the most savvy communication techniques as possible but if the underlying vision is not there, the modern day consumer will very quickly sense the lack of authenticity.

So it was delightful to see even more of Innocent and their unique way of doing business the other night. What makes Innocent so amazing as a brand is that they are constantly defining and redefining what the company is about in everything they do. I had never seen the grass van or the artificial grass floor in the office or the dress code or the wall of love. I didn’t even know that they give 10% of their profits to charity. But each and every activity authentically represents the brands main strength, ‘being natural.’ It is so clever and real that it actually transcends the activity of ‘branding.’ I couldn’t agree more when Richard Reed said that all of the world’s great brands have a sense of mission. When one thinks of companies like Apple or Google, it would be difficult to dispute this. Like Innocent, they are also both incredibly successful and profitable.

Indeed, when considering the business case for Innocent, it was more than amusing to see ‘the dragon’ Peter Jones trying to comprehend it. For me it seems a no-brainer to behave in the way Innocent does, treating your staff so well and actively encouraging them to participate. Any company’s most important assets is their staff, their workforce. If you can entrust and inspire your staff with the vivacity of your vision, then the staff will undoubtedly give their best work for a cause they believe in. Not work solely for the pay-cheque. Furthermore, if you can sell this vision to the consumers and even the supply chain, as Innocent has done. Then you suddenly have a mightily impressive business model. Think of all of the great brands that you feel something emotionally for and you will realise that most of them stand for something that you yourself can chime with. The beauty with Innocent is that they enact this vision to the core of what they do.

Ironically, the Innocent brand is so unbelievably strong because, like them, it is natural. It is more than a brand, it is a movement. The branding is just a natural extension of what the company is. Fruit Towers is the perfect embodiment of a company that transcends the word ‘brand.’ Both the company and their owners are wonderful role models in the joy that can be found in entrepreneurship, in realising your vision and building that vision. Not being driven by profit but by a desire to make a better world. Becoming hugely successful in the process. As somebody who deals with brands everyday, I take my hat off too and salute them.

Check out the programme at http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b0175q02/
 

Glasgow For Business Week

Big huge shout out to Glasgow City Council and associated partners for a mightily successful Glasgow for Business Week. There were many great events, a couple of which I attended, all of them interesting and insightful. It was good to see all of the events so well attended and the city’s business community coming together for each other once again.

Armistice Day

Finally, today was Armistice day and I thought it only right to pay tribute to the incredible men and woman that fought for our freedom all of those years ago. One thing that has occurred to me is that with every passing year. The level of remembrance and tribute to our fallen heroes is greater, even with the inevitability of time since the second world war. I am not sure if it is simply the prominence of social media that has fuelled this perception but it is a wonderful testament to what those brave men and women fought for and currently still fight for. It makes me hugely proud to be British and to be a part of this society . Lest we forget.

Have a good week folks…

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

Social Media Week happens to be over one month ago. We have already discussed our event twice now and felt it time to pay tribute to some of the other great events that happened that week in the city of Glasgow. Firstly, it must be said that Glasgow well and truly stepped up to the mark for Social Media Week. With over 130+ events in the city and people chipping in to assist with venues, catering, speakers etc, all in one week alone. It was fantastic to be a part of it.

Glasgow, leading the way…

Call us innovators, call us early adopters but the people of Glasgow well and truly showed that we are absolutely at the forefront of digital technology. Social Media Week saw over 130 events in the city, but more importantly, they were described by our friends around the world and in particular in New York as some of the most forward looking and innovative events. ‘Social Media’ is still a relatively new term but the underlying concepts of sharing and collaboration are ideals that have been fully embraced by the city of Glasgow during Social Media Week and it will be interesting to see where it goes from here…

#SMWBanter

Well everybody in the city knows ‘Business Banter,’ one of Glasgow’s most loved networking events. A large part of the Banter’s success was due to the LinkedIN group and Twitter where the hash-tag #TDBB dominates the Twitter-waves every Thursday morning. For Social Media Week, a one-off banter would not suffice. Jacky of ‘Think Different Events’ pulled off a massive operation. Not only holding five daily banters with a revised format but also arranging for five speakers at each and having them filmed at the same time and published online. No small feat. Truly getting into the spirit of social media by allowing the content to be shared; something that was appreciated by many.

You can check out some of the videos below including my own presentation…

All of the Videos can be found on The Banter’s video page at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=22A5E4F25B94156B

I personally had the pleasure of talking about ‘social branding’ on the Thursday morning and can say that I thoroughly enjoyed speaking at the event as well as listening to the other presentations. After enthusing about the banter for a quite a few months, my sister, who lives in London, who was with me on the Thursday morning commented that the banter was her ‘favourite event of the week.’ All in all, a massive tribute to Jackie for pulling it off. He was even able to organise separate organisers on the two days he wasn’t present. Its this attitude and dedication to the greater good that makes the Banter so universally popular with businesses in Glasgow and puts the ‘social’ into social media.

You can follow Think Different on Twitter @ThinkDifferentE

Or check out ‘The Banter’ on Twitter @business_banter

#SMWine

Of course, any wine tasting event in the city of Glasgow was always likely to be well received. But #SMWine held at the West brewery was an absolutely great event. It was engaging, good fun and international too. The event was hosted and communicated live via Skype by wine expert Pieter Rosenthal. Making this a true international social media event. We tried a multitude of great wines which were all tasted whilst being told about their various stories by Pieter. Now my mind may be a little hazy here, but if I remember right, they included three whites, three reds and champagne. The favourite being an Argentinian white from Argentina called Trivento.

You can watch the full event below…

Or follow Pieter Rosenthal on Twitter at @pieterrosenthal

T-Shirt Freak Out

One of my absolute favourite events of the week came from one of our very own clients. Raschique Narwan of fashion brand Freak Dem. Her T-Shirt Freak Out was quite simply magnificent. A two part event with the second part hosted at the Lighthouse, it included design, music and comedy all of the highest order. Part one of the event was to conduct a competition for a t-shirt design, where designers were invited to contribute their designs. Social Media would be used to gauge opinion and feedback. On the Friday evening, the very last event of the week, the results of the t-shirt competitions were announced in an excellent show that included a powerful speech by Raschique herself about the urban society she wants to build with Freak Dem as well as wonderful singing from Amore Kai, Mo Sharif and the hilarious comedy of Sean Reid. A wonderful way to finish the week. After a number of seminars, formal presentations and the like from the business community; it was really great to kick back, listen to some great music and have a few laughs at the T-Shirt Freak Out. Well done Freak Dem!!

Find out more about Freak Dem on Twitter @chiquefreak

#SMWGladon

Finally, one of the absolute highlights of Social Media Week Glasgow was the official event close by Don Tapscott. The author of ‘Wikinomics’ gave a one-hour presentation and Q+A session via Skype to the audience at the Sky Park. I must say that when Tim of Twintangibles first mentioned Don Tapscott as a possibility to speak at the event. I must confess that I had never heard of him and some of the significance of his presence was a little lost on me. But I must say that since his presentation and having viewed a few more of his videos online, I have realised the enormity of the man’s thinking. “A significant moment in human history” was one of the key quotes in a presentation that was littered with an incredible analysis of the global situation we find ourselves in this moment. Not solely in terms of social media, digitalisation but in terms of a complete paradigm shift from the industrial age and subsequent information age to a new paradigm of ‘networked intelligence.’ “The old institutions that have served us well no longer fit in a modern world.” It was a powerhouse of intellectual thinking. His most notable book ‘Wikinomics,’ is described as a manual to ‘re-boot business and the modern world.’

On the basis of his presentation to the Glasgow Crowd, this would seem to be no exaggeration and is a copy that I shall be reading very soon. For anybody that is interested in sifting deeper into the mechanisms of a rapidly changing world or would like to better understand the real and exciting possibilities of social media. This is an absolute ‘must watch.’ I shall be blogging very soon about some of the topics raised by Don Tapscott and some of those failing institutions. You will know who they all are…

You can find out more about Wikinomics at http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/

Twintangibles

Whilst discussing Social Media Week, I must close by congratulating my good friends Tim and Daniela of Twintangibles. Twintangibles along with New Media Corp, were the event organisers and put their heart and soul in making the week what it was. They absolutely ensured that the events remained true to the principles of social media and were absolutely tireless in their efforts in what was an incredibly large, and at times, complex operation. It was their vision, desire and ability to inspire that made Social Media Week, what it was in Glasgow. The capturing of a man like Don Tapscott was symbolic of the herculean effort they made. And no less than they deserved. For people that truly want to embrace the true spirit and potential of social media, I suggest that you check out their website at http://twintangibles.co.uk/ In the picture above, Tim and Daniela are second and fourth from the left where they are joined by Danny Gray of Google on the left and Arvind Salwan of New Media Corp who also deserves a huge thank you for his great work.

Massive congratulations and thank you to all of you!

Have a great week folks…

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

Its been a while since I last updated the Loft’s blog. It has been an incredibly busy time recently, mainly due to our Social Media Week event, Future Forward and the backlog of work afterwards. I wanted to take a little time to briefly reflect properly on our event, but above all else to look back at Social Media Week.

Future Forward

Taking part in ‘Future Forward’ was an incredible experience. The content of these blogs have seen us regularly discuss a profound change in branding communication and why an acceptance and astute use of social media is central to this change. The event was designed to communicate our own ideas that brands are built not solely on visual content but on actual actions. However, in keeping with the Social Media theme, we wanted ‘Future Forward’ to see if we could crowd source ideas and inspiration from an engaged global community for our client brand of the day ‘Glasgow Whisky Tours.’ Looking back, the concept for this kind of event was an incredibly ambitious one and thanks mainly to the hard work of many people, I think we just about pulled it off…

Glasgow Whisky Tours

Glasgow Whisky Tours from Ramsay MacFarlane on Vimeo.

Glasgow Whisky Tours were the perfect partner/client. We cannot thank Victor Brierley enough for his contribution. The ultimate Showman! Firstly, for stepping in at such short notice and grasping the concept of the event. It would have been ‘oh so easy’ to have been overly precious of the great brand work they have already done and pull their punches. But Victor did not. He was an absolutely incredible source of ideas. I have never seen one man able to source so many ideas in 1-2 hours. Funnily enough, while myself and the design team began brainstorming with Victor, and before the ‘digital conversation’ had even begun. We had about 5 pages full of great ideas. From a social media point of view, it kind of stunted our social media experiment, but why hang about. We had enough ideas to go forth and extra time to develop them. Thanks in a large part to Victor.

In the evening presentations, Victor also gave a tremendous presentation. As somebody who likes to stick to the script. I very much admired of Victor being able to give a knowledgeable, humorous and structured presentation of ‘Glasgow Whisky Tours’ with no notes. Furthermore, he was ably backed up by his partner Donald MacLellan, who likewise, presented his company in an exceptional manner with no notes. Finally we must thank them for the beautiful bottle of Bruichladdich 12 year old whisky they supplied for the after-party, which was also great fun. Overall, the perfect company to collaborate with.

Check out Glasgow Whisky Tours at http://glasgowwhiskytours.com/

Jim Henderson of Shirlaws

Jim Henderson made a fantastic contribution in each of the various parts of the event. Jim was the first person asked to come on-board and he ably demonstrated his ability in each of the various parts of the event. One of the reasons we so badly wanted Jim was his ability to take a complete step back from any business, analyse it in first principles and see the bigger picture as well as the future possibilities. His company Shirlaws are unique in their approach to not solely focus on ‘operational matters’ but on the ability to shape the company emotionally in the corrext context. They speak a lot about energy and rightly so. It is the invisible force that empowers any business’s number one resource, their staff. If we are designers of brand identity, Shirlaws assist in the designing of the business itself. In this role, Jim’s thoroughness and ability to coaxe the correct answers from Victor pre-event was vital. His line of questioning was critical in generating the correct brand analysis. In the evening, as expected, Jim gave an exceptional presentation on the importance of ‘positioning’ and why any company’s position should be effectively worked out before the beginning of any communications strategy. All the while, keeping the bigger picture in mind. A true pro and one of the favourites of the night.

You can find out more about Jim Henderson and Shirlaws on Twitter at @jimatshirlaws

Antonella and Ani

One of the best aspects of ‘Future Forward’ was the splendid contribution of the two London-based designers Antonella Bordone and Ani Passarelli. Victor was a little amused at the thought of two London designers, one with an Italian background and one from Guatemala re-designing such an authentically Scottish brand. However, they were both brilliant, and that is no over-statement. In the space of 6 hours, we had conducted a brand analysis, held a brainstorming session, generated numerous concepts and chosen three to develop. In the space of four hours, we were able to visualise three different concepts. A tremendous achievement for such a small space of time. None of this would have been possible, were it not for the incredible design skills of Antonella and Ani. They were able to grasp the concept, the Glasgow Whisky Tours brand identity and created close to 15 concept storyboards in the matter of hours. All with an exceptional use of the software and the correct level of brand sensitivity.

The results of which can all be found on our event infograph at http://www.theloft.co/our-work/future-forward/

On a personal note, it was just great to have them around and they made a lot of friends in Glasgow as we attended a number of the other events together..

Follow them on Twitter at…

Antonella Bordone @antolondon

Ani Passarelli @AniPassarelli

Hera Hussain

I must also thank Hera Hussain of Building Your Momentum and IA Cubed. Hera played a massive part in promoting the event and definitely brought much energy to all of the various proceedings. Her tweets, images and videos all played a great part in communicating the event to what seemed like all of Glasgow. We must thank her for this as well as giving a great presentation on the evening. The biggest compliment I can give is that ‘post-event.’ Hera Hussain was the name on a lot of people’s lips. And she was even able to attend pretty much every other event of Social Media Week and actively participated in several of her own..

Thanks to Hera and ‘Building Your Momentum,’ You can also see highlights of several of the speakers at…

Future Forward event clips from Building Your Momentum on Vimeo.

I am sure you know her already but in case you dont, you can follow Hera on Twitter at @herahussain

Others

I would also like to thank The Go Group and IA Cubed for their roles in the day. Particularly Kirsta and Susan from ‘Business and Training’ at Go, who were very professional and courteous in their dealings. Above all else, I would like to thank you the people of Glasgow for giving us such a great turn-out. We know there was 50-60 people there on the night and it was one of the busiest events of the week. There was a great atmosphere on the night and it made what was a massive investment of time and energy into something that felt truly worthwhile. We have definitely looked at the merits of the event and we are eager to host another one in the future. I genuinely believe that the spirit of social media, ‘sharing of knowledge and ideas’ is one way that we can prosper together. We would like to push this concept further. We have been approached by several parties about doing it all again, perhaps sooner than possible, so watch this space…

And finally on a personal note, I must absolutely thank friends and family and you know who you all are. They all helped out massively with various parts of the event, and its true to say that the event wouldn’t have been possible without them. Thank you…

You can check out the official infograph for the event at…

http://www.theloft.co/our-work/future-forward/

Have a great week folks and keep an eye out for another post about the other events of Social Media Week…

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

Well it’s not very often that you feel the loss of somebody that you felt was truly great but Steve Jobs for me was that person. I loved his passion, I loved his vision and I loved his optimism for a better future. Steve jobs’ work has touched many peoples’ lives in so many ways. i-mac, i-phone, i-pad. In the last couple of hours he has received many tributes. Marks of respect from every side of the globe. From the millions of Apple consumers to people such as President Obama. He has been praised for his technological achievements, his entrepreneurial achievements and now I want to pay tribute to Steve Jobs for everything he has done for my profession, design.

Growing up as a designer, everything you are ever taught at school or University about design in some way has been mastered by Steve Jobs. With Apple as his canvas, he has spent the last 30 years revolutionising our field. Want to know about graphics and packaging? Simply check out the beautiful boxes his products come in and the wonderful use of fonts. Want to know about product detailing? Check out any of the Apple products of today. All of them, beautifully balanced, beautifully finished and beautifully weighted. Want to know about concepts? Simply look at what Apple did to the music industry, they basically re-invented it! With i-tunes and the i-pod, they put the consumer back at the heart of the music industry and changed the way we all listen to music forever. Want to know about powerful branding? Apple is the strongest brand in the world, period. I don’t care what any survey says about IBM or Mercedes. Apple is light years ahead of everybody in building a powerful consistent brand. They don’t have to discount their products; they don’t have to really advertise their products. Everybody knows instinctively what Apple is, what they’re about and why they want to pay more to have one. Apple could make a car, a washing machine or even a plane and people would want one.

And finally, want to know how to make money out of design? Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world. And it is for this that I want to eternally thank Steve Jobs. For giving design real teeth at the board level and making great products as a priority. See great products and great companies are not borne out of dogma or a desire to mercilessly make money; they are borne out of one’s passion for a better future. Making money is simply the consequence when you learn how to do it really well. Most of the time what a creative will produce is the result of passion, a moment of inspiration. And traditionally it is the first thing to be killed in the boardroom. Well Apple changed all of that, be it the first graphical user interface, be it the transparent cover on the first i-mac or even the first proper touch-screen phone. Most of those ideas would have been killed off early in most boardrooms but Steve Jobs and Apple were different. He said yes when most people say no. He stuck to HIS beliefs in making perfect products when many before him would have said no for an easier life. It remains incredibly difficult to innovate and innovate well. Most cowardly hide behind the shelter of what has gone before, but Steve Jobs was a leader. And most importantly he proved that great design is profitable. Steve Jobs showed the true value of great design and how it is just as applicable to the design of a button as it is to the way you actually design the business itself.

Apple really did begin to resemble their owner. And no he was not perfect. He was prickly at times and a tad aloof but ultimately he was a genius. The company he created, although massive, does have a heartbeat. Even Apple’s website tribute to the great man is beautifully designed. Steve Jobs should be thanked for instilling that ability into his team and for showing the world the power of great design. We talk a lot about ‘design with soul’ here at the loft and sometimes its a hard concept to define. But I can think of no better embodiment of that message than Steve Jobs.

Rest in peace Steve Jobs and thank you…

Benedetto

Thank you so much for coming and keep an eye out for a follow up blog on some of the other great events attended during a terrific Social Media Week.

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

After a great build up, this was Future Forward. Our event for Social Media Week Glasgow on Tuesday evening. We would be building brands for the future, using traditional methods and innovative forms of social media too. It was a full day event. Instead of blogging about the event, we thought we would design this poster charting the day’s progress from pre-event videos to the finalised design work even including drinks from the small after-party. As can be seen, it was a very, very busy day. We hope you enjoy…

Thank you so much for coming and keep an eye out for a follow up blog on some of the other great events attended during a terrific Social Media Week.

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

#SMWFuturefwd

Since it has been two weeks since we last brought a blog to you, I must say that we have had some significant developments for our social media week event, Future Forward. Firstly we have a client for the event. The Good Spirit Co.

A retailer of fine whiskeys, rums, vodkas, licquors and cigars in the centre of Glasgow. They are the perfect partners. They already have a great brand, some fantastic products and an amazing story. Matthew, Mark and Shame have already been using Social Media well since the opening of their store. And we cannot wait to see what can do to make this great brand even better… We are also delighted about the inclusion of Glasgow Opportunities (The Go-Group) as a partner for the event as well. The Go-Group will be providing us with the venue for the evening as well as presenting themselves and their use of social media up to now.

At the Loft, we are delighted with this development. And in addition to our other partners, IA Cubed, Building Your Momentum and Shirlaws Business Coaching, this truly will be an event worth attending. As our company mantra is ‘design with soul,’ we intend that this event will be designed to be innovative, inspiring and engaging as possible. We have a raft of ideas that will be using in the lead up to the event and during the day too. We look forward to welcoming you all to the second floor of Mercantile Chambers, 53 Bothwell Street at 5PM on Tuesday the 20th of September.

Registration for the event is now open and can be found at http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=98

And the various Twitter usernames of our partners and speakers are…

The Loft @tlcstudios
The Good Spirits Co @Good_Spirits_Co
Building Your Momentum @herahussain
The Go Group @The_GO_Group
Shirlaws @jimatshirlaws
IA Cubed @IACubed

Our website is www.theloft.co

Get Giggin

It gave us great pleasure to complete the Branding and promotional material for new web-start up ‘Get gig’n.’ Iain Mcniven of Get Gig’n’ plans to build a website that synchronises all of the venues, events and bands for live music acts. A sort of reference site for music lovers everywhere. We had great fun doing the design work and wish him all of the best moving forward.

Website coming soon…

Comms Breakfast

Thursday morning saw the 5th Comms Breakfast ran by Dunning Design at the beautiful Corinthian. This week saw a fantastic presentation by Tom Rice of the Glasgow Marketing Bureau to more than 100 delegates. It must be said that Tom displayed an absolutely wonderful passion for the city and the level of pro-activeness the bureau has shown in enhancing the brand message of the city internationally. Thing such as bringing the Mobo Awards to the city and the design of a Style Mile App were just brief indicators of an agency that wants Glasgow to be seen at the cutting edge in comparison to other cities. Needless to say that the Corinthian breakfast and hospitaltity were both splendid as always. Very much looking forward to Claire Dunning, who I had the great pleasure to finally meet, talk about on LinkedIN in October…

You can find out more about each of the parties on Twitter…

Comms Breakfast @Commsbreakfast
Dunning Design @dunningdesign
The Corinthian @Corinthianclub
Glasgow Marketing Bureau @seeGlasgow

Happy Birthday Banter

Friday evening was a momentous night for ‘Jacky’ of ‘Think Different Events’ and his ‘Business Banter.’ Anybody that follows the Loft on Twitter or knows me personally will know how much I love my ‘Business Banter’ on a Thursday morning. Like many other people, it is my favourite networking event by some way. Well it turns out that the Banter was one year young on Thursday morning and to celebrate. A special ‘Friday evening Banter’ was held once again at the Corinthian. The event was attended by more than 50 people, who all came out to support Jacky and this wonderful event. Jacky has done so, so much to make this event as successful as it is. Basically creating a ‘village-like’ atmosphere for the Glasgow based businesses. It was fantastic to see him collect his signed Partick Thistle strip, a much deserved present for the wonderful work he has put in recently. I cannot praise him enough for his selflessness, good humour and hard work in making the event what it is. Which is basically most people’s ‘favourite networking event.’ We wish lots of luck for his sector specific banters and we cannot wait to work closer with him during Social Media Week.
To find out more about the banter, check out @business_banter and @ThinkDifferentE on Twitter or simply type #TDBB in Twitter to see why it’s so well loved.

PSYBT Growth Awards

In what turned out to be a crazy day of networking, Thursday saw PSYBT celebrate their Annual Growth Awards on the 2nd floor of Sloans Pub in Glasgow. In what turned out to be another great event, it was wonderful to see Patrick McDonald of ‘Superior Catering & Leisure’ scoop up the award for young business of the year. Patrick’s company sells hot food at a mobile trailer kiosk in events all around the country. Patrick was a very refreshing winner, very straight talking and making no bones of the fact that he wants to be like ‘the dragons’ from the Dragons Den, being inspired by Duncan Bannatyne in particular. But interestingly enough, with a great instinct for business, he may be one of the few hot food vendors that include a Halal menu. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were to become the next Duncan Bannatyne. Well done Patrick.

Finally, it must be said that PSYBT put on another great event at Sloans. Sarah Scase and Gina Martin did a great job and deserve a lot of credit for their efforts. In addition to Patrick’s award, it was wonderful to see Jeff Horner of the Go-Group receive volunteer of the year. Jeff looked absolutely flabbergasted with the announcement but his is a richly deserved award for the tremendous and tireless work that he has done for the trust. In addition to this, Jeff Horner, who also works for The Go Group also played a huge role in helping us secure GO as a partner for the Future Forward Event. He is a constant source of support and ideas, and always plays a vital role. Indeed, Jeff is a big believer in innovation and among his many roles at the Go-Group; he looks after Connect Scotland, The John Logie Baird Awards, The Enterprise Fellowship Scheme as part of his many roles for The Go Group, in addition to being an ambassador for PSYBT. He is a true workhorse and deserves much credit.

Check out PSYBT Glasgow on Twitter @PSYBT_Glasgow

Mark Strudwick

On a slightly more sombre note, it was very sad to hear of the new of the retirement of Mark Strudwick, PSYBT’s charismatic CEO. Although I can’t claim to know him too well, I do know that he has led the charity with distinction for a number of years. An absolute gentleman, always looking forward, never flustered and creating a wonderful team spirit that resonates throughout the organisation. One such example of this was when he was able to persuade almost 20 volunteers, staff and associates to come out on their day off to support the charity at the Perth races.

He told me that he plans to ‘never retire’ but continue work for some of his other charities. He shall be a big loss and we wish him every bit of luck possible for the future.

Glasgow Half Marathon

Just a quick note of congratulations to many friends who took part in the Glasgow Half Marathon yesterday including Ricky Singh of Team Singh, Brian Tait of Aillum and Daniela Castrataro of Twintangibles. Well done guys and I hope to join you next year.

Finally, it has given me great pleasure to hear that Social Media Week in Glasgow is absolutely leading the way in terms of quantity and quality of events for Social Media Week. Supposedly we are second, only to New York. A Great feat and real proof that Glasgow really is one of the most sociable cities in the world. We absolutely cannot wait.

Get involved folks… http://socialmediaweek.org/glasgow/

Have a great week folks and keep an eye out for our next posts during the week…

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

Well actually it has been here for a quite a long time, ever since the inception of the ‘world wide web’ by British scientist Sir Tim” Berners-Lee in the early 1990′s. We have seen the way we live our lives transformed. Everything from the way we make our daily purchases, consume information, listen to music and more recently, in the way we engage with others. The internet has changed everything. It may not have changed us on its own, but its descendants – smart phones, e-mail, facebook, you-tube, twitter, amazon, Google etc almost certainly have. Suddenly we have access to an endless array of information and media. And we have never been more able to shape our own lives based on our own preferences, morals and beliefs. The 21st century citizen can watch their favourite music on youtube, learn about their favourite sportspeople on Wikipedia and talk to their best friends on the other side of the planet immediately. No barriers or restrictions. In the most part, we are the empowered generation. However, this has created other problems (or opportunities, depending on what kind of company you are?) As consumer behaviours have completely altered. The problem with having so much information at our fingertips is that we each have thousands more choices to make on a daily basis and less time to make them. We are much likely to stick with those that we trust, those with shared values and those that we resonate with.

And this is where the importance of brand-being comes in. What is brand-being? Well brand-being is what brand identity should be, but where it so regularly fails. Brands that have good marketing and communication to mask ordinary products/services have good brand identities but dont neccessarily stand for anything. Companies with great brand-beings inact their culture, their values and their raison d’etre at every opportunity. These companies actually stand for something, deep down to their core, they are about more than making money. Of course, every company wants to make money. But great companies, great brands do it in a way that inspires their customers, their staff, their suppliers. It comes down to the why, what and how. Companies may be great at finding out how to do things, and they all know what they do, but how many companies know why they do something? Right from those engaged at the top? And if those at the top dont know, how about those further down the line? Think of all the great companies, organisations and movements. They have a sense of purpose greater than making money. They all know WHY they get out of bed in the morning.

Why is this so important now? Well today’s empowered yet busy consumer is much more likely to make purchases based on emotions and beliefs over rational facts. They buy phones from Apple, a computer company WHY? Because they make objects that challenge the status quo. This would be as true of cars or washing machines as it would be phones. Would they buy a phone from DELL, also a computer company? Exactly, most people wouldn’t. DELL just does not have as strong a sense of purpose as Apple. The great brands also have people queuing up to work for them… Everybody from the person in the boardroom to the person that sweeps the floor knows, understands and, most importantly, contributes to the success of that company or movement. However, this means that everything that a company like Apple does, every product, every campaign, every presentation must be true to its values. Or it loses its sense of purpose, its strength of brand and its commanding position. But in the end, most consumers now have the luxury to buy almost solely based on emotions.

This is where brand-being comes in. it is no longer satisfactory to give your brand a sharp, insincere or snappy ad-campaign and force feed it to your consumers. Most of them just aren’t listening or are un-engaged. The attitude of today’s consumers is one of blind ignorance to hard selling, of which traditional TV/newspaper advertising is one form. Nobody wants to be force-fed anything anymore. How many people look at flyers, read e-newsletters or junk mail? However, if something is cool, interesting or remarkable, it can spread through social media channels in minutes and then onto mainstream forms of media. It was the impact of Susan Boyle on Youtube that made her a global star, not the initial TV appearance. This is how today’s marketing works, but the big proviso is that you better be doing something cool, interesting and inspiring in the first place. We have moved from a push system with people forcing information onto us into a fetch system where we engage with the things we like and interest us, fetching our information accordingly, but on our terms. In the end we shall do business with the brands that we believe share common values and beliefs.

Finally, authenticity has never been more important. The fact that Ferrari has been racing F1 cars for over 60 years, give them a certain validity and strength of brand, in selling road cars. People will pay a premium for buying into that history, which is absolutely priceless. For those that work for companies that don’t really stand for anything, it is time to be worried. There is nothing more dangerous than playing it safe. If Nokia, which was technically a great company in some ways, can find itself in trouble in today’s landscape, then any-one can. And ever more dangerous is those companies that are guilty of deceiving, masquerading and suppressing its customer base. Not mentioning any names… News International. The internet and social media in particular leave absolutely no hiding place.

Why is this good for design? Well generally, companies are more likely to willingly engage the skills of the impassioned few, the innovators and the creatives to try and stamp out some form of identity in today’s climate. This can only be good for design.

The majority of the information which formed this post came from some videos on the TED website. You can check out the full presentations below and I would sincerely recommend them as a useful guide in understanding today’s landscape.

The Pitch

On Thursday afternoon, after the obligatory and always-excellent Business Banter in the morning. It gave me great pleasure to jump on the train and make a rare visit to Edinburgh for the annual pitch 2011 at the beautiful Signet Library just off Parliament Square. It was an outstanding event with 5 young companies all pitching live to 3 investors for investment to grow their companies. Each gave very professional pitches that excellently showed off the strong enterprise culture we do have here in Scotland. Congratulations to Kibosh Limited who gave a fantastic presentation of their wonderful product. The emergency pipe repair. You can check them out on… http://www.kiboshpiperepair.com/fitting.php The event was wonderfully organised by Bristol company, Sift Media who did themselves proud and can also be found on twitter @siftmedia

Spark Branding

One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to finally see Jennifer Holloway of Spark Branding speak about personal branding. Of course, personal branding is every bit as important as company branding and it was great to see how many of the principles remain true for both. Indeed some of what we spoke about earlier about companies having values, cultures and ethics etc are every bit as important for personal brands as they are for companies. Indeed, in this the internet age, the old adage ‘people buy from people’ has never been more true and important. And like company branding, people are every bit as likely to buy into your values and beliefs as they are your skills and image. Jennifer gave a very engaging presentation with lots of audience interaction. On the basis of her presentation, we could not recommend Jennifer Holloway highly enough. You can find her on Twitter @SparkBranding

Thrive Networking

It was great to finally return to Thrive Networking this Wednesday morning. The event was expertly hosted by Ola Lopatowska and was held at the stunning Langley Suite at the beautiful Corinthian Club. The event itself was reasonably enjoyable and it was nice to meet so many new people. You can find Thrive Networking on Twitter @Thrive4Business
And the Corinthian club @CorinthianClub

Downtown Philly

And finally it is bizarre to see the centre of Glasgow being transformed into downtown Philadelphia for a film-set, but there you go. It’s great to have Brad Pitt here in the city in what I am sure will be a great film. Check out our old home, George House, transformed into the ‘United States Courthouse.’ Whatever next??

Have a great week folks…

Benedetto Bordone

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn

Loft In Spotlight…

We are almost into the fifth month of writing these weekly news blogs, so we thought we’d take this chance to show the level of visual quality and versatility of our own work. As can be seen from below, we define a clear message with every piece of work and genuinely treat no two projects the same. There will be some in-depth design stories to come in the following months but in the meantime. We hope you enjoy looking at our work…

Freak Dem

‘FreakDem = Fashion + Meaning’ This is the message on Freak Dem’s Twitter account, it kinds of says it all… We were approached by Freak Dem to design a ‘crest-style’ logo. After some attempts to design a traditional crest based logo. We opted for something much more radical. The logo is based on the spread of positive energy which is derived from the ‘sun’ based centre which spreads to create a phoenix acting as a symbol of hope. The logo is deliberately very symbolic and will complement the Freak Dem website due out later this year… You can follow Freak Dem on Twitter @ChiqueFreakDem

The Team

The Team is the personal training company. We were approached by Nadia of the Team to design a brand identity and corresponding poster/flyer for one of the Team’s new fitness classes. ‘Wonder Weightloss.’ We took the idea of a lady using some of the various exercises you can expect at the ‘Wonder Weightloss’ class with the parallel image of her slimming down as the concept. We then produced the various posters/flyers to support the artwork. We shall be unveiling the Team’s new website in the forthcoming month, you can follow Nadia @thedemarco

Get Giggin

One of our most recent projects, We were approached to design a logo and poster for new company ‘Get Giggin.’ They are a web-based company that shall assist young bands and venues co-ordinate their activities to produce the only place to know where to find local, unsigned bands. It promises to be a great business. They kindly allowed us to present these pieces of work, despite not having all of their details finalised on the posters, just in case you cannot find the details online. However, we are immensely proud of the grungy logo and poster designs.

PSYBT

At the Loft, we made a decision last year to donate design work to a charity on an ongoing basis. One of the charities we have worked closest with has been PSYBT who we have assisted in creating a sub-brand ‘Elevator’ for their excellent bi-monthly networking event. We have also designed the twitter account for their Glasgow branch and we shall be assisting them with their new e-newsletter system soon… You can follow PSYBT @PSYBT_GLASGOW

Making Trax

Making Trax are a great new company that takes school kids on sports tours all around the world. We were approached to design the branding and website. We created a dynamic logo that has actual ‘tracks’ at the heart of its identity. For the website, we wanted to instil a travelling theme and made use of a range of images to support this… You can follow Making Trax @MakingTraxLtd

Aillum Marketing

One of our clients and co-collaborators. Aillum Marketing are one of Glasgow’s finest online marketing companies. A couple of months ago, we began co-developing a range of new services as part of our ‘Violence of The New’ projects. These new services included amongst other things a mobile site and facebook customisation where Aillum would provide development assistance to complement the Loft’s design skills. The following images show the results of our design work which have almost been fully realised… You can follow Aillum Marketing @aillum

Renfrewshire Pubs

One of Aillum’s own projects is the pubs website ‘Renfrewshire Pubs.’ We were approached by Aillum to design a logo for Renfrewshire Pubs and also to freshen up the design of their website. You can check out Renfrewshire Pubs at http://www.renfrewshirepubs.co.uk/

Thierrys Blog

One of our most enjoyable projects recently has been to re-design the blog for wine supplier Thierry’s of Hampshire. Thierry’s take their blog very seriously with wine expert Pieter Rosenthal posting regular updates almost daily. We shifted the blog onto a WordPress platform and it played a significant part of the London International Wine Fair, which Thierry’s and Pieter were generous contributors. You can follow Thierry’s on Twitter @thierryswine Or follow Pieter Rosenthal @pieterrosenthal

Coffeze

One really interesting project recently has been to design the website for Coffeze. Scotland’s first coffee drive-thru. The site will go live very soon at www.coffeze.com Or you can follow them on twitter @coffeze

Aperture Marketing

We were delighted to finally work with Brian Canavan and Aperture Marketing a couple of months ago, when asked to design two banners and post-card for Aperture Marketing’s stand at the Edinburgh B2B show. We wanted to get across that Aperture Marketing are the perfect company to help provide strategic direction and guidance with a myriad of various marketing activities available. You can follow Aperture Marketing @aperturemarket

Maxwell Bruce

Finally, although just over a year old and not a recent project. We are exceptionally proud of the website we designed and built for recruitment company Maxwell Bruce. We think it looks like no other recruitment company website you’ve ever seen. Generous praise must go to the exceptional development skills of Robbie Donaldson who developed this site in record time. The site can be found at http://www.maxwellbruce.com/ Robbie can be found at http://www.rabmcnab.co.uk/

Funny ones

And finally, as the resident design company in our Bothwell Street Studio. We are occasionally asked (usually by Jeff Horner of The Go Group) to Photoshop the odd one-off funny poster for our friends and neighbours at the Go-Group, Business Gateway or PSYBT…

Just some harmless fun, enjoy!!

Future Forward

We dedicated the majority of last weeks news blog to Social Media Week in Glasgow, so we shall only mention it briefly this week. Indeed, this week have had two further exciting pieces of news to confirm about our event ‘Future Forward.’

The Loft is absolutely delighted to welcome Jim Henderson of Shirlaws Business Coaching onto the bill for the event. Shirlaws are a fantastic company and one with whom we share a number of important values, predominantly in building businesses with passion. Shirlaws are passionate about business in a way that we are passionate about design. We are convinced Jim will give a compelling and interesting presentation on the evening as well as play a significant part during the day-time workshop.

Secondly, we are delighted to confirm Hera Hussain as our social media hostess for the day. Hera shall be representing I A Cubed as well as her new enterprise Build Your Momentum at the event. Hera brings supreme expertiss in the field of social media and shares our desire to push boundaries with this event. When discussing the event with Hera, I told her that the event in line with our philosophy, must be ‘designed with soul.’ To which the reply ‘social media with soul’ came back. Watch this space…

Along with our partner companies, we are certain that ‘Future Forward’ will be a very special event. We hope to announce further details next week…

Have a great week folks…

Benedetto

You can follow the Loft on…

Facebook http://on.fb.me/ejMqSi

Twitter http://bit.ly/i55gEo

Linkedin http://linkd.in/hpTwdn